A meeting of the Transportation Committee/Committee of the Whole was held in the Board Room, Administration Building, Toll Plaza, San Francisco, California, on Thursday, September 7, 2006, at 10:00 a.m., Chair Brown presiding.

A Notice of Meeting Cancellation (Notice) for the August 17, 2006, meeting of the Advisory Committee on Accessibility (ACA) was furnished to the Transportation Committee. The Notice also included an announcement that the September 21, 2006, meeting of the ACA would be held at a special location, convening at 1:00 p.m., at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal, in the covered passenger waiting area, and including an excursion aboard the Larkspur Ferry to the San Francisco Ferry Terminal.

Action by the Board – None Required

b.

Bus Passengers Advisory Committee

The agenda for the August 16, 2006, meeting and the minutes of the April 26, 2006, meeting of the Bus Passengers Advisory Committee were furnished to the Transportation Committee. Copies are available in the Office of the District Secretary and on the District’s web site.

Action by the Board – None Required

c.

Ferry Passengers Advisory Committee

The agenda for the August 9, 2006, meeting and the minutes of the July 12, 2006, meeting of the Ferry Passengers Advisory Committee was furnished to the Transportation Committee. Copies are available in the Office of the District Secretary and on the District’s web site.

Action by the Board – None Required

2.

Approve the Operation of Golden Gate Transit Bus Service to Accommodate the Presidio Bus Stops within the City and County of San Francisco; and, Amend Master Ordinance 2006 Accordingly

In a memorandum to Committee, Director of Planning Alan R. Zahradnik, Deputy General Manager/Bus Division Susan C. Chiaroni and General Manager Celia G. Kupersmith provided staff’s recommendation to approve the operation of Golden Gate Transit (GGT) bus service to accommodate the Presidio bus stops within the City and County of San Francisco; and amend Master Ordinance 2006 accordingly. The report stated that the Master Ordinance currently provides that the transport of passengers locally within the City and County of San Francisco on Golden Gate Transit is restricted to travel to and from the Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza.

The report provided historical background of the changing public uses of the Presidio of San Francisco, noting that the Presidio is now a national park, managed jointly by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Presidio Trust, and that there is increasing demand for public transit service to and from the Presidio. The District has received requests by staffs of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the National Park Service and the Presidio Trust to allow park visitors and employees to use Golden Gate Transit within San Francisco. The District has confirmed that the Presidio Trust desires Golden Gate Transit to serve the Presidio bus stops located on Richardson Avenue near the Lombard Gate to the Presidio. The report also stated that District staff has worked closely with the San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI) and MUNI has no objection to the District operating this service.

The report further stated that by easing the current restriction to allow passenger pick ups at these additional bus stops, it is estimated that the District would likely experience a small increase in ridership and fare revenues, as well as potentially improve productivity and reverse declining ridership of Golden Gate Transit transbay bus services. A copy of the staff report is available in the Office of the District Secretary and on the District’s web site.

Discussion ensued, including the following:

Director Reilly inquired regarding MUNI’s response to the proposed change in Golden Gate Transit’s bus service within San Francisco. In response, Celia Kupersmith explained that MUNI staff does not have any objection to this change, but that there could be objections from the labor organizations in San Francisco who may view this change as setting a precedent to allow other transit agencies to serve bus stops within the City and County of San Francisco.

Director Grosboll inquired as to whether MUNI had provided formal written approval of the District’s intention to allow Golden Gate Transit to carry passengers locally within San Francisco at the Presidio bus stops. In response, Alan Zahradnik stated that the District had not received written approval from MUNI, but received informal notice from MUNI staff that the MUNI General Manager did not object to Golden Gate Transit providing the proposed service.

Staff recommended and the Committee concurred by motion made and seconded by Directors STROEH/EDDIE to forward the following recommendation to the Board of Directors for its consideration:

RECOMMENDATION

The Transportation Committee recommends that the Board of Directors approve the operation of Golden Gate Transit bus service to accommodate passengers traveling locally within the City and County of San Francisco to and from the Presidio bus stops located on Richardson Avenue near the Lombard Gate to the Presidio, as requested by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Presidio Trust and with no objection of the San Francisco Municipal Railway; and, amends SECTION III. GOLDEN GATE TRANSIT – BUS AND FERRY SYSTEMS, Subsection A. GENERAL RULES, of Master Ordinance 2006, by replacing Paragraph 1. SAN FRANCISCO BUS PASSENGERS., in its entirety, as follows:

"1.

SAN FRANCISCO BUS PASSENGERS. No local passengers will be carried within the City and County of San Francisco except those originating at or those whose destination is the bus stops at the Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza and/or the Presidio bus stops located on Richardson Avenue near the Lombard Gate to the Presidio.”

[Note: The above recommendation will be forwarded to the Board of Directors meeting of September 8, 2006, for action.]

3.

Monthly Report on Activities Related to Marin Local Service Contract with Marin County Transit District

The monthly report on activities related to the Marin Local Service contract with the Marin County Transit District (MCTD) was furnished to the Transportation Committee. The report included the following elements:

1.

A spreadsheet from the Planning Department providing statistics regarding GGT bus service performance of both District regional routes and MCTD local routes, for the month of July 2006; and,

2.

A spreadsheet from the Auditor-Controller outlining the history of payments made to date by MCTD to the District for intra-county bus transit services in Marin County, under the new five-year Agreement with the MCTD for Marin Local Bus Service, which became effective on May 1, 2006.

Due to the high volume of agendas and minutes from Marin County agencies related to this item, hard copies of those items were not provided to the Committee. Instead, electronic versions of the following items were posted on the District’s web site:

1.

Agenda of the August 22, 2006, meeting of MCTD; and,

2.

Minutes of the July 11, 2006, meeting of MCTD.

Copies of all of the above-listed items are available in the Office of the District Secretary and on the District’s web site.

At the meeting, Ms. Kupersmith announced that MCTD’s new service plan will go into effect on Sunday, September 10, 2006, with significant changes to local service routes provided by the MCTD within Marin County. These changes had been presented in detail by the MCTD Transit Planning Manager Amy Van Doren at the Committee’s July 13, 2006 meeting. Ms. Kupersmith noted that District staff has been working closely with the MCTD staff in the areas of service development, scheduling, marketing and promotion. She further noted that the extensive public outreach for these local service changes also included coordinating with Spanish-speaking Bus Operators and District staff to provide bilingual public outreach in the Canal area of San Rafael.

Ms. Kupersmith reported on additional coordination that has occurred between the staffs of the District and the MCTD related to an action taken by the Committee and the Board of Directors in July 2006 to approve the use of transfers between Golden Gate Transit (GGT) bus service and Marin County Transit District (MCTD) shuttle service for local travel within Marin County. She stated that the staffs are coordinating how to account for the revenue split between the two agencies with regard to bus tickets that are collected from passengers on local MCTD shuttle bus routes who then transfer to Golden Gate Transit regional bus routes for continuing local travel within Marin County.

Discussion ensued, including the following:

Director Reilly made the following requests:

She requested a description of the proposed service changes contemplated by the MCTD. In response, Ms. Kupersmith provided a brief summary of the MCTD’s service changes, in which the MCTD will be re-allocating local bus service within the same number of hours currently under contract with Golden Gate Transit.

She requested that a status report be provided at a future meeting of the Committee relative to feedback from Golden Gate Transit passengers regarding the MCTD service changes.

Action by the Board – None Required

4.

Public Comment

There was no public comment.

5.

Adjournment

All business having been concluded, the meeting was adjourned at 10:20 a.m.